I'll Take Care of You
by E. M. Zeray
Summary: Blaine's first day at McKinley in their senior year and Kurt doesn't feel as happy as he should that the boy he loves is holding his hand as they walk down the hall. Intense fluff.


It really shouldn't hurt this much, he thought to himself. He should be happy. He should be on top of the world because his boyfriend was as school with him. His boyfriend was wearing normal clothes and was holding his hand tightly as they move down the hall. And at first, everything was like it should be. He felt proud. He felt ecstatic. He felt like nothing could touch him.

And then he noticed that people were staring. And not just staring, but glaring. He was used to them glaring at him, but…at Blaine? Blaine didn't seem to notice though. Or if he did, he didn't say anything. His expression didn't change. He didn't look at anybody, just at the little piece of paper in his hand that told him his class schedule and his locker number.

"Where's your locker?" he muttered casually.

"Oh, uh, down here," Kurt said, tugging Blaine down a new hall. Once they were headed in the right direction, Kurt squirmed his hand out of Blaine's and clutched his bag, walking straight up to his locker.

"Kurt?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay?"

He glanced around at everywhere but Blaine. They were staring. And it sucked.

"Kurt, don't let them get to you."

He looked at his boyfriend and nodded. "Easier said than done. I've dealt with them looking at me this way, but I don't like that they're doing it to you."

"I can handle it, Kurt." He smiled. "But thank you for caring."

"Of course."

Blaine smiled. "I think I'm in the first hall because of my last name. Wanna put your stuff in and walk me back before we go to French?"

Kurt nodded. "Yeah. And you're auditioning after school today, right?"

"Of course." Blaine's eyes darted around, grinning cheekily, before leaning in and kissing Kurt softly. "Walk me to my locker, stud."

-0-

Kurt leaned against the locker right next to Blaine's, watching him dreamily as he placed things inside. "It's been so long since I've had a locker. I'm going to litter this thing with pictures of you."

Kurt smiled.

"You think I'm joking. Every time I open my locker, all I'm going to see is your face. It's going to be crazy."

"Come on—we have to get to French. If we don't get there now, we'll have to sit in the front."

"Kurt Hummel hates sitting in the front in his favorite class?" Blaine rolled his eyes. "Astounding." He closed his locker and held out his hand. "To French, _monsieur_."

Kurt reached for his hand automatically, but froze with his hand in the air. Was it worth it? Was what could happen to Blaine worth it?

"Kurt?"

"I don't know if that's a good idea."

His whispered statement was only reinforced when a kid walked by and coughed "homos" in their direction. Blaine scowled and made a move in his direction, but Kurt grabbed his shoulder.

"Let's just go to class, okay?"

"I'm not going until you hold my hand. Kurt…" He took a step closer to his boyfriend. "Why can't I walk down the hall with the person that I'm in love with?"

Kurt smiled, lacing their fingers together. "No reason at all whatsoever."

-0-

"I'll see you at lunch, okay?"

Blaine nodded. "Yeah—I think I can figure out how to find my classes. I managed Dalton, I think I can handle McKinley."

"Stay safe."

"I'll try."

"Make good decisions."

"Don't I always?"

"And avoid the kids in the letterman jackets."

Blaine blinked. "Kurt. I came here so that I didn't have to run anymore. You know that."

"So it had nothing to do with me?"

"Yeah," Blaine laughed. "Some of it had to do with you, but, Kurt, I'm not going to avoid somebody, okay?"

"Just…be careful."

"I will, I promise. I can handle myself."

Kurt bit his lip.

"Don't be so overdramatic and mama-bearish on the first day. It'll be okay. Go to class—I'll see you at lunch on the steps outside." He kissed his cheek. "Love you."

"You too."

Kurt stared after him as he walked away. The guilt that had been steadily building in his chest was reaching a breaking point. It was too scary to think about. He didn't want to have to think about Blaine getting harassed like Kurt had been last year. It was too much. The Bully Whips weren't formally reinstated until next week, which meant that it was fair game. He could only hope that Blaine didn't get himself in trouble. He was feeling bad enough making him leave the Warblers, making him leave his friends at Dalton.

Blaine's voice suddenly rang in his ears. _"I came here so that I didn't have to run anymore."_

Kurt sighed, slipping into class and taking a seat in the middle. _Please stay safe. Please don't hate me for this. Please don't get hurt._

Blaine was humming as he made his way to the science building for his Physics class. Something caught his attention, though—a sharp clanging noise. Looking towards the sound, he saw a few football guys shoving a boy who appeared to be a freshman towards the Dumpster. He clenched his jaw and tried to make his feet keep moving. Ignore it. It wasn't happening. It wasn't his battle…

But if he didn't condemn it, he condoned it.

"Hey!" he hollered, dropping his bag. "Leave him alone!"

One of the guys turned to him. "Ha! What are you gonna do about it, hobbit?"

"Why don't you try to toss me in and see, Neanderthal?"

The guy clenched a fist and opened his mouth, but the bell rang just as he did. He smirked. "You got lucky this time, Frodo. I'm keeping an eye on you." He made a gesture with his arm and the guys behind him dropped the boy into the Dumpster. "Let's go, fellas."

Blaine had to stop himself from punching the guy as he walked past. As soon as the jocks were gone, he raced up to the Dumpster and helped the guy out.

"Hey, man, are you okay?"

He tousled his hair and brushed off his jeans. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah—there's not a lot of trash in there. I think I just hurt my back from hitting the metal."

Blaine frowned. "Okay. I'm Blaine."

"Derek."

"Nice to meet you."

"Yeah." The guy fished his backpack out of the Dumpster and slung it over his shoulder. "Oh," he said when he got a good look at Blaine. "Weren't you that guy in the front hall this morning with the homo?" Except he didn't say 'homo.' Blaine substituted in the nice version to his brain so that he would break and punch the guy.

Blaine realized then that McKinley really was not Dalton. And people were not going to be polite all the time. In fact, they were going to be dicks. A lot. They were going to say three letter words that shouldn't hurt as much as they did. They were going to be ignorant. "Try not to get tossed in the trash anymore, okay, Derek?" He didn't wait for an answer before running back to get his bag and get to class.

-0-

Kurt was waiting outside of Blaine's fourth period class when the bell rang. At first the shorter boy just walked right past him, but Kurt rolled his eyes and caught up to him, nudging him with his shoulder.

"So, I've thought a lot about what you said and I'm sorry I was being so crabby this morning. I guess I'm just a little nervous. This is really different for you and I was so scared that I wouldn't know how to help that I didn't take a step back and consider the fact that I'm overreacting and this will actually all be okay." He captured Blaine's hand in his own. "How were your classes?"

Blaine squeezed his hand and froze in the middle of the hall, turning to him. "Can we eat alone today?"

"Sure—why?"

"Just lead me to the choir room. I wanna cry into your shoulder and I don't want to do it in public."

Kurt's heart skipped a beat. "Blaine—"

"Come on, Kurt. Let's go." He tugged on Kurt's hand and Kurt followed numbly for a moment before catching up and walking next to him. Blaine refused to look at how people were looking at him. It didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was the boy squeezing his hand as they turned the corner and made their way into the choir room.

Kurt flicked the lights on and closed the door as they walked further into the room and sat down.

"I was walking to Physics," Blaine said as he opened up his lunch. "These jocks were tossing somebody into the Dumpster and I confronted them. The bell rang and they left before they could do anything to me, but when I went to help the guy, he recognized me and called you…something."

"Blaine."

"It really pissed me off. And I was late to class. I've never been late to class."

Kurt reached forward and grabbed his hand. He scooted his chair closer so that their knees knocked together. "I love you."

"He called you—"

"Blaine, people are just like that here, okay? It takes a little getting used to."

"I wanted to hit him. I'm not a really violent person, Kurt, and I wanted to hit him."

"You know how you're feeling right now? Angry and scared, but not for yourself?"

"For you," he whispered.

"Exactly. That's how I've been feeling since we walked in this morning."

Blaine shook his head, swallowing tightly. "I'm so…mad."

"Can I do anything to make you feel better?"

"Kiss me. Just kiss me."

Smiling, Kurt brushed their lips together. Blaine deepened the kiss immediately and it felt like his heart was slowly being repaired.

-0-

Azimio made a gagging noise along with the other jock standing next to him as they witnessed the two kissing in the choir room.

"Ugh. Homos tainting the school like they own the place. You wanna teach them a lesson after school, Az?"

"Definitely. I'm thinking slushies and reinstating Hummel's weekly Dumpster toss."

-0-

"Alright, what are you singing for your audition today?"

"Oh, Kurt, if I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise and you wouldn't be impressed."

Kurt laughed, leaning into him. It felt so good to be able to be casual with him again. Yes, the intensity of their relationship was still there, but Kurt loved these moments when he was reminded that they started out as friends and they could still talk and be with each other as friends…just friends who happened to find great enjoyment in making out.

"But I think it'll be great. I've already talked to the band about it. It'll be awesome."

"Hey, ladies!"

Kurt froze as the purple ice dripped down his face and onto his clothes. He blinked a few times and turned to look at Blaine who was coated similarly with red.

"Keep your gayness somewhere we don't have to see it, okay? Don't want the rest of the student body being tainted."

As they walked away, Kurt touched Blaine's arm. "Blaine, I'm so—"

"It's not your fault, Kurt. But, shit, this stings."

"Come here." Kurt tugged them into the girl's restroom, dropping his bag and plucking paper towels from the dispenser at a rapid pace. "Get your head under the sink. It's not good for your hair or your face or your eyes. And, uh, you might want to let me rinse out your shirt before it's permanently stained."

"Too late for that," Blaine said through the tap. "I can't go shirtless to glee."

"Yeah, about that…"

Blaine looked up, squinting as the water rushed red ice chunks out of his curls. "What?"

"I was a little paranoid this morning."

"What?"

"I have like four extra T-shirts all folded up in my locker. They're generic, like five bucks each, but—"

"You're a genius."

"You have to adapt here. The glee kids started wearing rain coats to school it got so bad once."

Blaine frowned. "Babe, how did you survive here?"

Kurt shrugged, unbuttoning his shirt. "Glee."

The older boy turned off the tap. "I'll go grab the shirts."

"Combo's 3-5-11."

Blaine kissed his cheek before darting out.

-0-

"Uh, hi, everybody. You all know me already, but hello again. I'm going to be singing… Well, actually, why don't I just surprise you? Before I begin, though, I'd like to say that before this, I was going to sing a Katy Perry song, but I made this decision right as I walked in and even though it's not what I normally do, I wanted to do this. Here I go."

The band started playing the slow song and Blaine began to sing.

Kurt didn't recognize the song, but he listened to the words and when the chorus came around, he had to brush away a tear.

"_So let them talk about us,_

_Let them call us funny things._

_People sometimes do._

_Oh, I don't care as long_

_As you know I love you._

_Oh, and you know I do._

_I'll be there, but you might not see me._

_It's never easy to get through._

_But when the laughter dies away_

_Then I'll take care of you._

_Darling, I'll take care of you."_

The rest of the club stood and applauded and Kurt simply jumped up from his auditorium seat and ran up the stage, jumping into Blaine's arms.

"Each other, Blaine. We'll take care of each other."

"I can't promise that I won't get furious when they're mean, but I can promise that I will always be here to take it with you and show them how ignorant they are."

Kurt kissed him, not even caring that everyone was watching.

"I love you," Blaine said when they pulled back. "They can ruin my clothes; they can harass me; they can do anything they want to me. But they will never change how I feel about you."

"Guess what, Blaine?" Kurt smiled, brushing their noses together. "You survived your first day at McKinley."

"I think that warrants a cup of coffee at the Lima Bean."

"Mm…I was actually kind of in the mood for a slushie."

The club applauded this time when they kissed.

**A/N: I don't know why I wrote this, but I did and here it is. Hope you enjoyed! Please review :)**

**The song is "I'll Take Care of You" by the Dixie Chicks. In my head, he re-auditions for Mr. Schue again with something like P!nk's "Perfect" and Mr. Schue goes, "Blaine, we've seen you. We all know you can sing. Just sit down." But he's an attention whore. Yeah, I think I'm tired. **

**Thank you so much for reading.**

**Love,**

**E. M. Zeray**

**Mythoughtshavenooffswitch [dot] tumblr [dot] com**


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